Request for Proposals - Exposure | Tools | WSDC

Request for Proposal (RFP) - For Consultancy Contracts to Develop skills of Brick kiln workers and owners on Green Technology through carrying out (1) Exposure and ToT for Brick Entrepreneurs, (2) Development of Training Tools for Brick Workers’ Skill Development, (3) Execution of Skill Training for Brick Workers’at WorkerSkill Development Centre

Terms of Reference (ToR) for the Consultancy Contracts to develop skills of brick kiln workers and owners on green technology through carrying out exposure and ToT for brick entrepreneurs, development of training tools for brick workers, execution of skill training for brick workers in Worker Skill Development Centre.

A.The Call

Centre for Education and Communication, as a labour resource Centre, is committed to protect the rights of unorganised and migrant workers. CEC undertakes research, designs campaigns and advocates on the issues of labour rights. It brings to the centre of debates key concepts, ideas and policies that helps to enhance dignified and sustainable livelihood options for workers, in particular the informal workers and small producers.

2. Development of Curriculum (Training Tools) for Skill Development of Brick Kiln Workers

3. Identification of Worker Skill Development Centre as well as the Execution of Brick Worker Skill Development Training

Since the expertise and resources for the execution of the three assignments are distinct, towards the efficiency of execution, we are looking for three separate applications.

However, considering that there are several elements those are interlinked and inter-dependent within the scope of the three assignments, a great level of coordination will be required among the three Consultants/agencies towards effective execution. Hence, a Monitoring and Coordination Group (MCG) will be constituted with members from the three consultants/agencies as well as independent experts; and will be coordinated by the Contracting authority. For the purpose, 10 per cent of the cost will be earmarked for the functioning of the MCG.

If you feel you are the right candidate, please submit your application to CEC by e-mail to cec@cec-india.org on or before April 30, 2017 along with a detailed Proposal and Cost Plan based on the Terms of Reference given below. For further information or clarification, you may contact Project Director, CEC, 173-A, Khirki Village, Malviya Nagar, New Delhi – 110017 Phone: 91 11 20541841 | 29541858.

B. The Context

India is second largest producer of clay-fired bricks in the world employing 15-20 million workers. Kiln workers, mostly dalits and adivasis, migrate as families, work as families against advance received at the time of migration. Workers live in the kilns and work 12-14 hours a day to meet piece-rate targets based on verbal agreements, settled with the male head of households at the end of the season. Child labour is rampant. India’s brick sector, characterised by traditional firing technologies and low mechanisation rate, is estimated to consume roughly 35 million tonnes of coal per year. Incomplete combustion of coal and other biomass fuels in brick kilns results in the emissions of fine particulate matter having adverse impact on human health and ecology. Brick kilns in Rajasthan and UP, along the river systems of Indo-gangetic plains destroy top soil, and increase pollution levels in the region including in NCT of Delhi, and brick kilns along River Haora, West Tripura District impact on the air quality of Agartala, capital city of Tripura. This proposal is the result of steps taken, of late, to build interfaces between these streams of thought (rights of workers, women, children & environmental protection) based on the presumption that these are not mutually exclusive.

C. The Project

Currently CEC is working on the issues of brick kiln workers and brick kiln technology under the project entitled-“Empowering Civil Society Organization’s for Decent Work and Green Bricks in India’s Brick Kilns”. The project is supported by the European Union and being implemented in partnership with (i) Prayas, Delhi; and (ii) Terre des Hommes (Germany) India Programme. The duration of the project is for 48 months beginning from 01 January 2016. The overall aim of the project is to usher sustainable change through decent work and green technology in India's brick kilns. The specific objective is to increase the capacity of CSOs working on green technology, brick kiln manufacturers associations, workers associations and local authorities to ensure inclusive "decent work" in brick kilns and produce "green‟ bricks.

The project intend to achieve for major outcomes (i) ensuring Decent Work in brick kilns; (b) promotion of green bricks through meaningful exposure of brick entrepreneurs to kilns employing advanced technologies; (c) Preparing tools and executing Workers Skill Development Training Centres (WSDC) and (d) Establishing Employment Exchange of the workers. Each element is especially targeted to specifically address the issues pertaining to the brick kiln industry of in different states under the project. In UP and Rajasthan the project focuses on ensuring decent working conditions for the workers engaged at the kilns and also setting up model of employment exchange for regulating employment of migrant workers engaged in the industry. In Tripura, the focus is on promoting green technology and establishing Workers’ Skill Diversification Centre(s). With these strategic interventions we aim to bring technological shift in the industry, which in the longer term will yield a direct favourable impact on the issues pertaining to environmental pollution caused by the prevalence of archaic technology in the brick kiln industry in Tripura. The worker skill development programme is also expected to generate employment avenues for job seekers.

D. The Assignment

Though brick kilns form a part of the industrial sector, there is no evidence to indicate that social relations are subsumed; rather, they are reasserted and used as a means of exploitation. There is a segmentation that exists in the labour market based on caste. This segmentation begins before the workers enter the kilns. Rooted in the notions of certain castes being good at certain occupations, each task category in the brick kilns has its separate dedicated caste category. These categories cannot be interchanged. Like the labour market, recruitment is also organised along caste lines with advance forming the backbone of this system. A typical worker in the brick kiln is a man (no identity for woman) who has taken advance from an agent to work along with his wife and children. Payment is piece rated paid at the end of the season after deduction of the outstanding loan.

It has been observed that India’s brick sector is characterised by traditional firing technologies - mostly Clamp and Fixed Chimney Bull’s Trench Kiln (FCBTK); environmental pollution; reliance on manual labour and low mechanisation rate; dominance of small-scale brick kilns with limited financial, technical and managerial capacity; dominance of single raw material (clay) and product (solid clay brick); and lack of institutional capacity for the development of the sector (Sameer 2012). The obverse of it is the division of labour within the kilns, which are highly regimented and which replicates and reinforces discriminatory caste structure in the society, as mentioned in the previous paragraph.

The direct consequence of the technology used in the kilns is its impact of the health of workers and environment. It is estimated to consume roughly 35 million tonnes of coal per year, the highest among the industrial consumers of coal in the country. Emissions from the kiln have adverse impact on human health and ecology. Workers are also exposed to excessive heat and dust. This poses a serious threat to the environment. Absence of green technology and production of non-clear air is affecting the workers as well and those around the kilns in particular and aggravating the GHG levels in general. Workers face occupational health hazards including respiratory health problems, accidents occur frequently and sometimes fatal or at least incapacitate them permanently.

This project stresses that these features are mutually interconnected or rather dependent on the other. The project will highlight the synergy between these approaches. The project aspires to doing away with caste based, regimented, advance-linked, contractor dominated labour market characteristics as well as the organisation of the industry that thrives on non-innovation and gendered, feudal labour relations. The bastions of rudimentary technology as well and a regimented work allocation of near captive workforce of the marginalised dalitadivasi and migrant workers need to be broken simultaneously. There is also the need for an alternative system of getting employment rather than through an agent/contractor.

Three related activities envisaged in the project part of this vertical are

2. Development of Training tools (course materials) for technical skill development as well as skill diversification at work and introducing innovative technologies in kilns

3. Setting up ‘Worker Skill Development Centre’ (WSDC) and imparting kill diversification and skill development training and initiating (potential and existing) brick kiln workers into safer and greener brick production

This project will facilitate an interface between green brick manufacturing and decent work. It will demonstrate how the entire production chain of a brick kiln – from procurement of sand, labour organisation, production process and sale of the bricks can be made sustainable through adoption of new technology and making improvements in working conditions. CEC along with identified private sector service provider will lead the action.

The project strives will consolidate the state of the art knowledge of the green technology experts and efforts at enabling decent work through a skill development centre. This activity will be implemented in collaboration with a brick kiln owner/willing innovators who are open to collaboration as well as working with associations.

The activity intends to expose traditional brick kiln manufacturers to technological innovations in brick production. This project envisages four exposures for 50 brick makers to kilns producing safe, green bricks. Kiln where some of the innovations and practices (decent work & green bricks) can be implemented will be identified from each cluster. CEC will lead the action in close collaboration with identified private sector service provider.

1.1 GeographicalScope:

Brick Entrepreneurs from Project Areas (selected districts of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Tripura). Selection will be facilitated by the Project Team

1.2Time Limit:

The four exposures for 50 brick entrepreneurs to be completed by December 31 2018

1.5 Reporting & Coordination:

The consultant/agency will report to the Executive Director CEC or any person designated for the task on all deliverables at agreed timelines.

1.6. Remuneration

CEC is open to a competitive remuneration in line with NGO payment norms. The payment will be disbursed, upon submission of the deliverables set in the ToR and approval by the designated authority of CEC that the services have been satisfactorily performed.

2. Development of Training tools (course materials) for technical skill development as well as skill diversification at work and introducing innovative technologies in kilns

WSDC will initiate its programme with the development of a training tool and an 8 week long hands on technical skill diversification training for brick kiln workers. Skill diversification here is to cater to the various job roles within the brick kiln itself with the objective of avoiding regimentation and exclusions at work. The trained workers will be equipped to perform any of the jobs in a brick kiln. This will change the situation that has existed so far whereby workers of a certain caste performing a certain task are not able to move vertically. For example a dalit worker who has so far been engaged as a pather or a moulder, will now be skilled in the job of a jalaiwala or the one who fires.

2.1 The Scope

Curriculum Development (training tools) will involve the following:

1. developing content

2. writing curriculum

3. editing curriculum

4. incorporating graphic designs

5. translating the text into Hindi and Kakarb language for the direct benefit of workers in/from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, who are mainly Hindi speaking and for those from hilly districts of Tripura, who are generally Kakarb speaking.

6. Preparation of training tools with focus on

• clay preparation and moulding of bricks through manual as well mechanised processes (4 weeks)

– Clay Preparation: Characteristics of good brick earth; Harmful constituents of brick earth that destroys the quality of bricks; Classification of brick earth; Field Tests for suitability (chemical & physical compositions, consistency of earth, suitability for moulding, strength and quality of bricks etc.)

– Moulding of bricks: Preparation of brick earth; Moulding of bricks;

– Mechanised processes: in clay preparation, in moulding, in carrying,

2.5 Reporting & Coordination:

The consultant/agency will report to the Executive Director CEC or any person designated for the task on all deliverables at agreed timelines.

2.6 Remuneration

CEC is open to a competitive remuneration in line with NGO payment norms. The payment will be disbursed, upon submission of the deliverables set in the ToR and approval by the designated authority of CEC that the services have been satisfactorily performed.

3. Setting up ‘Worker Skill Development Centre’ (WSDC) and imparting kill diversification and skill development training and initiating (potential and existing) brick kiln workers into safer and greener brick production

3.1 Setting up of Worker Skill Development Centre (WSDC)

The project envisages setting up of Worker Skill Development Centre (WSDC) with the objective of doing away with the regimentation of work and of promoting diversity at work. The WSDC will train dalits and adivasis in trades that currently are not assigned to them. It will also prepare the workers for expected technological shifts in brick manufacturing. Key outcomes of the WSDC will be livelihood enhancement through a combination of curriculum-based and on the ground vocational training, workers equipped with the skills required for various tasks in the brick kilns, workers from any occupation associated with the kilns get opportunity to learn skills, quality trainings in keeping with the industry needs thereby bridging the gap between demand and supply of skilled labour, link up with the employment exchange for enabling access to employment opportunities, and trainee’s database for effective hand holding.

Diversification of skills will help labour survival since factories (those manufacturing alternate materials) will operate throughout the year. The project envisages skill building as a process of empowerment of an individual which will enable him/her to improve economic as well as social value. With this in mind, the worker skill development centre is visualised as an inclusive and scalable training and facilitation centre. It will provide both theory as well as practical learning to workers seeking employment/working in brick kilns. CEC will lead the action in close collaboration with identified private sector service provider.

3.2 The Scope

• formal agreement with brick kiln owner(s) and/or training institutes to set up and operate worker skill development from the perspective of diversity and inclusiveness.

• facilitate the brick kiln owners and brick kiln owner associations to absorb those workers who come out of training sessions

3.3 Execution of Training

The training will be given for 5 batches of workers, (20 traditional workers each). Training will include workers from source as well as destination states. Selection of the workers from the destination states will be based on the identification of kilns where owners are willing.

3.6 Reporting & Coordination

The consultant/agency will report to the Executive Director CEC or any person designated for the task on all deliverables at agreed timelines.

3.7 Remuneration

CEC is open to a competitive remuneration in line with NGO payment norms. The payment will be disbursed, upon submission of the deliverables set in the ToR and approval by the designated authority of CEC that the services have been satisfactorily performed.